Champions League

[speeeeeeedie]

Spurs and PSG are out. Bayern and AC Milan through.

Bayern thoroughly outclassed PSG. It was 3-0 on aggregate but could have been a lot more. PSG fail again. I'm sure they'll have their annual hand wringing about why, but they play in an average league, sign past it stars, and rely on Mbappe to bail them out, they'll always struggle. 

Spurs pulled a Spurs. Conte went defensive, then Romero got sent off late on for a daft tackle. Conte will be gone from Spurs soon. I doubt that he'll last until the end of the season.

I'm sure Liverpool fans will be thinking that another super performance is on the cards after the Man U game. It won't happen. Madrid will pass the ball around for 90 minutes, waste as much time as possible, and be happy with a 0-0 draw.

[Exiled_Rover]

I've watched Spurs play 3 games in the space of a week. They're yet to score a goal.

[roverandout]

2 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Loads of PL wins from Scots though, ay @roverandout

😁

Aye but I hate the phrase 'uk managers' or 'uk clubs' really irks me 

[roverandout]

1 hour ago, speeeeeeedie said:

Spurs and PSG are out. Bayern and AC Milan through.

Bayern thoroughly outclassed PSG. It was 3-0 on aggregate but could have been a lot more. PSG fail again. I'm sure they'll have their annual hand wringing about why, but they play in an average league, sign past it stars, and rely on Mbappe to bail them out, they'll always struggle. 

Spurs pulled a Spurs. Conte went defensive, then Romero got sent off late on for a daft tackle. Conte will be gone from Spurs soon. I doubt that he'll last until the end of the season.

I'm sure Liverpool fans will be thinking that another super performance is on the cards after the Man U game. It won't happen. Madrid will pass the ball around for 90 minutes, waste as much time as possible, and be happy with a 0-0 draw.

Kane needs to leave spurs in the summer 

[K-Hod]

2 hours ago, roverandout said:

Aye but I hate the phrase 'uk managers' or 'uk clubs' really irks me 

Why though? Both are true if you’re referring to English clubs/managers…

[Mike E]

4 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:

I've watched Spurs play 3 games in the space of a week. They're yet to score a goal.

Keep watching them then. Don't like Spurs.

[Upside Down]

16 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Keep watching them then. Don't like Spurs.

Now that really is a club with shit fans.

[roverandout]

1 hour ago, K-Hod said:

Why though? Both are true if you’re referring to English clubs/managers…

No they're not.  England  isn't UK. England is a country within the UK. Anyway I don't want a huge argument with people over it

[Mike E]

4 hours ago, roverandout said:

No they're not.  England  isn't UK. England is a country within the UK. Anyway I don't want a huge argument with people over it

He's obviously also including Welsh, Scottish, NI managers...

[R0verb0y]

18 hours ago, roverandout said:

Aye but I hate the phrase 'uk managers' or 'uk clubs' really irks me 

Have you tried 'letting go' of either phrase, @roverandout? Does anybody use either of those phrases? Surely they'd use either 'English' or 'British'.

Anyway, how about today's opponent? After his initial success in his native country (Scotland), he came south and, since then, has only ever managed in this country.

[roverandout]

If city don't win the champions league this season they never will. Haaland isn't human is he 

[Proudtobeblue&white]

Haaland is a machine!

[speeeeeeedie]

The draw for the quarter finals onward is out.

Quarters;

Real Madrid vs. Chelsea 
Inter Milan vs. SL Benfica 
Manchester City vs. Bayern Munich 
AC Milan vs. Napoli 

Semi's;

Real Madrid/Chelsea vs. Manchester City/ Bayern Munich
AC Milan/Napoli vs. Inter Milan/ SL Benfica

The top half has the "big" teams. I said the other week that Napoli will go far. I can see them in the final.

[K-Hod]

Frank Lampard tonight thought they could go up against Real Madrid with Conor Gallagher against Luka Modric.

Cracking manager…..

[roverandout]

3 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Frank Lampard tonight thought they could go up against Real Madrid with Conor Gallagher against Luka Modric.

Cracking manager…..

Gallagher is decent.  He harries players but so does kante and kante is 10 times better at it. They didn't need two water carriers. 

[K-Hod]

9 hours ago, roverandout said:

Gallagher is decent.  He harries players but so does kante and kante is 10 times better at it. They didn't need two water carriers. 

He’s not a bad player, but it was a bit naive to expect him to be able to cope with Real Madrid’s midfield tbf. Kante seemed to provide most of their attacking threat yesterday…

Saying they were 2 nil down on aggregate was interesting that they’d play Gallagher, Kante and Enzo Fernandez in the middle of the park….

[speeeeeeedie]

7 hours ago, K-Hod said:

He’s not a bad player, but it was a bit naive to expect him to be able to cope with Real Madrid’s midfield tbf. Kante seemed to provide most of their attacking threat yesterday…

Saying they were 2 nil down on aggregate was interesting that they’d play Gallagher, Kante and Enzo Fernandez in the middle of the park….

It was actually working quite well. Kroos and Modric couldn't settle. Cheslea were making Madrid uncomfortable, although Madrid in Europe don't seem to care about that.

If either Kante or Cucurella finished their chances in the first half it may have ended differently, probably with an extra time loss instead. I think Lampard actually thought about it and had a plan.

Chelsea don't have a forward who can score, and Cucurella has been taking lessons in positioning from Trent Alexander-Arnold.

AC Milan beat Napoli so unless Benfica win by 3 in Milan tonight there will be an Italian team in the final.

[K-Hod]

3 hours ago, speeeeeeedie said:

It was actually working quite well. Kroos and Modric couldn't settle. Cheslea were making Madrid uncomfortable, although Madrid in Europe don't seem to care about that.

If either Kante or Cucurella finished their chances in the first half it may have ended differently, probably with an extra time loss instead. I think Lampard actually thought about it and had a plan.

Chelsea don't have a forward who can score, and Cucurella has been taking lessons in positioning from Trent Alexander-Arnold.

AC Milan beat Napoli so unless Benfica win by 3 in Milan tonight there will be an Italian team in the final.

It felt to me like Chelsea did what they’ve been doing all season, loads of possession but no end product.
Seems like Mount will be off at the end of the season with how little he’s been playing (as I imagine many others willl be too). It looked to me like Madrid were weathering the storm until they pounced.
How often have they done that in recent times? Vinicius Jr and Benzema had quiet games by their standards, but then Rodrygo stepped up and did the business twice.

[speeeeeeedie]

The semi final first legs are over. 

Real v. City was an interesting one. For the first half an hour Madrid let City have the ball and stuck 2 on Haaland. Then they scored, and were the better team until De Bruyne equalised. After that it was stalemate.

Madrid don't seem to care what is thrown at them but if Guardiola doesn't do anything daft City should go through. 

In the other tie Inter blew AC away in the 30 minutes. It should have been 3 or 4 and over with by half time. I can't see Milan scoring 3, there will be lots of typical Italian defending and antics from Inter next week. 

There were a lot of ex Prem players on the pitch in Milan. It looks odd to me who grew up watching Football Italia on Channel 4. The best players used to leave Italy when they were past their peak. Now it seems to be the opposite. Dzeko and Mkhitaryan to name 2. 

[ben_the_beast]

1 hour ago, speeeeeeedie said:

In the other tie Inter blew AC away in the 30 minutes. It should have been 3 or 4 and over with by half time. I can't see Milan scoring 3, there will be lots of typical Italian defending and antics from Inter next week. 

It depends if Leao is back for the second leg. He blows hot and cold, but when he's on form he is unstoppable. I see him as Milans only chance of a comeback.

[Darrenbot]

Just watched the first half of the Milan derby second leg and these two are bad,whichever team gets to the final in Madrid and City will wipe the floor with these in the final

[speeeeeeedie]

On 11/05/2023 at 12:20, ben_the_beast said:

It depends if Leao is back for the second leg. He blows hot and cold, but when he's on form he is unstoppable. I see him as Milans only chance of a comeback.

He was cold yesterday. 

It may all have been a different outcome had Brahim Diaz had scored early. It was a golden chance. 

After that Inter did what they needed to do. 

[jodrell]

City looks class tonight 2-0 up

[roversfan99]

City incredible and Real Madrid look awful, hard to make out whether it is just City being so good that makes them look so bad.

[roverandout]

Grealish has been superb. Carjahal hasn't been able to contain him.